Terminal Area Energy Management Trajectory Planning for an Unpowered Reusable Launch Vehicle

Author(s):  
Kenneth Horneman ◽  
Craig Kluever
2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Jiang ◽  
Zhaohua Yang

A new guidance scheme that utilizes a trajectory planning algorithm by energy-to-range ratio has been developed under the circumstance of surplus energy for the terminal area energy management phase of a reusable launch vehicle. The trajectory planning scheme estimates the reference flight profile by piecing together several flight phases that are defined by a set of geometric parameters. Guidance commands are readily available once the best reference trajectory is determined. The trajectory planning algorithm based on energy-to-range ratio is able to quickly generate new reference profiles for testing cases with large variations in initial vehicle condition and energy. The designed flight track has only one turn heading, which simplifies the trajectory planning algorithm. The effectiveness of the trajectory planning algorithm is demonstrated by simulations, which shows that the guided vehicle is able to successfully dissipate energy and reach the desired approach and landing glideslope target with small tracking errors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 172988141881797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Wei ◽  
Xuejing Lan ◽  
Lei Liu ◽  
Yongji Wang

Online feasible trajectory generation for an airdrop unpowered reusable launch vehicle is addressed in this article. A rapid trajectory planning algorithm is proposed to satisfy not only the multiple path and terminal constraints but also the complex geographic constraints of waypoints and no-fly zones. Firstly, the lower and upper boundaries of the bank angle that implement all the path constraints are obtained based on the quasi-equilibrium glide condition. To determine the bank angle directly, a weighted interpolation of the boundaries is then developed, which provides an effective approach to simplify the planning process as a one-parameter search problem. Subsequently, three types of lateral planning algorithms are designed to determine the sign of the bank angle according to the requirements of waypoints passage, no-fly-zones avoidance, and terminal constraints in the airdrop process, and the convergence of these methods for passing over the waypoints and meeting the terminal conditions has been clarified and formally demonstrated. Considering the constraints in the actual airdrop flight missions, the planning trajectory is divided into several subphases to facilitate the application of corresponding algorithms. Finally, the performance of the proposed algorithm is assessed through three airdrop missions of reusable launch vehicle with different geographic constraints. Besides, the effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated by the Monte Carlo simulation results.


2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (17) ◽  
pp. 462-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingxia Mu ◽  
Xiang Yu ◽  
Youmin Zhang ◽  
Ping Li ◽  
Xinmin Wang

2013 ◽  
Vol 446-447 ◽  
pp. 611-615
Author(s):  
Min Zhou ◽  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Jian Guo Guo

RLVs' gliding capability, determined by its maximum dive and maximum range, provided a significant restriction in TAEM trajectory planning in this paper. The maximum-dive trajectory was generated based on Eq.(3) for a constant maximum dynamic pressure. In the guidance, it was optimized to be Eq.(13) for the open-loop command of bank angle in HAC segment. The simplified closed-loop command of angle of attack contained errors of altitude and path angle except the controlled velocity. Energy propagating as Eq.(8) calculated the reference velocity for the speed brake to track. Finally, an illustrative example was given to confirm the efficiency of the trajectory planning algorithm and optimized command. The simulation results in Fig.2 and Fig.3 indicate the proposed trajectory planning algorithm and guidance method are useful for the gliding capability limited RLV's TAEM with initial deviations.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Mease ◽  
P. Teufel ◽  
H. Schoenenberger ◽  
D. Chen ◽  
S. Bharadwaj

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